To quote a friend, doin' better than I deserve

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Archive | October 2014

Remember the story of the widow with the oil and flour in I Kings 17 who was preparing to die when her food ran out, and it managed (the Lord provided) to keep lasting on and on and on? She just baked enough for each day and the next day there was still enough to bake bread for one more day. Trusting God. One day at a time.

Well, it seems that way with my Bible. I mean, to clarify, I’m not planning to starve or die right away as the widow feared; I’m just fascinated how the same container with the same contents–the Scriptures–just keeps renewing itself and providing me with different insights on a daily basis. What a bargain! Buy one book and keep reading new insights for years. He just keeps on feeding me constantly. (Could this be my “daily bread” that I pray for?)

The very same 66 books, the very same words arranged in precisely the same way they were when I was 2 or 3 and first heard the stories at my mother’s knee…or to expand on that idea, the same words for the last 2,000 years or so, never mind when I first heard them.

As to the nature of the Word, the apostle John shares that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the Word was with God…and that tells me the Word is Jesus. The same yesterday, today and forever. And Hebrews 4 reminds us that “the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” so that addresses the literal power in the Scriptures.

Yet somehow I’m newly aware that these 807,361 words (in the King James version, at least, according to http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/corner/read2/r00722.html), are the same words I’ve been reading for close to 60 years–and that their message is constantly changing and meeting my needs, whatever they are at any given moment. Wow. Mind boggling.

I’ve been studying, preparing for a quarter’s teaching on the subject of the Last Days…the days leading up to and following the Rapture of the saints. We’ll be viewing the series of DVD’s titled “”What in the World is Going On?” created by Dr. David Jeremiah. And I ended tonight’s personal study preparation by answering the questions in the Study Guide that comes with each lesson.

They’re very simple, four questions only, took me maybe five minutes to complete. But the impact of these simple questions following the thorough, reasoned teaching of Dr. Jeremiah has made a jaw-dropping impact on my heart.

We all sin. Those who are saved understand that they are forgiven; that God’s grace through Jesus’ blood covers it all. And that’s a given; a fact. But still, if you’re tender-hearted, or have a tender conscience, at times you tend to wonder how God REALLY feels, if He will truly not stand with his clip board and a foot tapping…and even as I write this, I find I’m embarrassed to admit that, as it proves that I doubt God’s promise and His word that He says He will. (Maybe I’m calling to mind my own tough-to-forgive nature, you think?)

The questions I answered were the following, if I can paraphrase them for you to lend a bit of the weight of the message that I discovered in this first lesson: Who did God choose for his covenant, Abraham or the Jews? (IF you read Genesis 12:1-3, it’s crystal clear that he chose the man). One man. Abram, who lived in a city called Ur of the Chaldees. God promised he would make Abram a great nation–the man, not the race of people. He said he would make Abram’s name GREAT. That –get this–I never saw this before: THE FATE OF ALL OTHER NATIONS WOULD DEPEND ON HOW THEY TREAT ABRAM (Genesis 12:3)…can you imagine?

All the nations that mistreated the Israelites, from the Canaanites, Hittites, and all the other tribes who no longer exist, to all the ones you’ve just heard about on the six o’clock news…all have been destroyed. It’s history; not just a prophecy that the eternal God made, but FACT. NEWS. HISTORY.

He promised to Abram as many descendants as the stars in the skies and the sands of the oceans…and he promised that simply…that’s just too tiny a word to get across the import–BECAUSE HE LOVED THEM, BECAUSE HE’S FAITHFUL AND KEEPS HIS PROMISES, he promised that they will be his people, his treasured possession forevermore. He enumerates how they were faithless, stiff-necked, and rebellious against him over and over and over. But on the simple basis of his faithful nature; his amazing love; and his covenant with one man a long time ago, he will never ever break his promise. In Jeremiah 31:35-37 He states it plainly: The only way his covenant will ever be broken is if the heavens can finally be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched. Sure. Right. I’ll get right on that.

As if you ever needed a rock solid concrete statement of just how unshakable, unfathomable and amazing that God’s love and Grace truly is…there it is.